Surly Darkness

Brewed by Surly Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota USA

someone opened this at bill and wendy’s though i’m pretty sure everyone in the room had one with them!...

2008 with a bitchin’ label... pours just lighter than black with a light tan head which lingers and leaves an abundance of spotty lacing. pine-like hops hit the nose first but soon turn to sinus numbing citrus peel... secondary scents of chocolate, malt powder, nutty/coffee, grass and leafy green hops. the palate is quite sweet... almost to cloying but the power of the hops make it a bit easier to enjoy. the flavor shares the characters of the aroma but also has some woodiness and a distinct savory note. there is a long lingering aftertaste of malted chocolate malted milk with pine needles in it. medium to medium/full bodied with a creamy almost oily mouth feel. pine-like and leafy hops keep it really easy to drink and bring it back from the brink of sticky...8/4/7/4/17/4.0

The batch with the cool tattoo art on the bottle. Pours dark brown with a thin white head. Smells of roasted malt, dark fruit, nutty, chocolate, peppery, spicy. Tastes roasty and chocolatey with a nice subtle bitterness and lots of sweet malt on the finish. I’ve had this four times now and while I didn’t enjoy batch 2, I liked this batch quite a bit.

Sampled first at the bottle release of Veritas 04, then again at the Bockyhorsey tasting. The highest of thanks to those who shared. Pours jet black with a very thin, light tan head. Aroma is of sweet piney hops, a nice roast, lots of chocolate and coffee. Taste is a lot of malt sweetness featuring chocolate, light roast, coffee, and a precise carbonation. Very smooth and delicious. It is sweet enough that it becomes cloying, but this is one of my favorite RIS.

750 ml bottle, red waxed and capped. 2008 Vintage, graciously picked up at Darkness day for me by my parents. Pour is jet black with beautiful cascading leading up to a thick, four inch deep tan head. Head is foamy at the top, but very lasting. Patchy lacing. Initial aroma is semi-sweet dark chocolate and straight cocoa powder. After the initial wave, nice melding of roast coffee, malt and some hops. I thought the hop was pine straight away, but turned more towards a citrus peel bitterness. Sweetness is a little syrupy, though that helps cover up the alcohol almost entirely. Nice nose. Taste is the sweet cocoa roast coffee citrus hops all kind of rolled into one. Nice solid integration of all of the flavors, and with the nose, alcohol was well hidden. A decent blast of pineapple-cherry sugary sweetness pops out in the aftertaste. There is a decent burning in the chest, however. Palate is actually a bit thinner than I would have expected, medium, a little oily and a long somewhat bitter finish - that turns sweet, almost cloyingly so towards the end. I would say the palate was my least favorite part of the beer. Overall, nice Imperial Stout. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Bottle Pours out a ink black topped with a brown head. Aroma of milk chocolate sweetness along with a nice rich roast malt. Tast was of more sweet chocolate and a nice blend of coffee. A nice little bitter hop on the end. This brew almost lived up to the hipe. Very tasty.

Bottled sample via DalzAle (huge thanks for this one!). Jet black in colour with moderate carbonation. Herbal and slightly grapefruity hops upfront on the nose, followed by notes of rich chocolate and smooth caramel malts. Flavors are of chocolate covered fruit, more citrus + spice, mild coffee, and a creamy vanilla sweetness. Heavy in the mouth and sweet, but without being cloying. Fans of heavily roasted imperial stouts might not like this, but I really enjoyed it.

Generously shared by Cletus at his Chinese New Year’s celebration... thanks John! Poured a thick velvet onyx with a tall dark brown fluffy head. Rich aroma of sweet and bitter chocolate, some vinous fruits, some candy sugar, and a touch of citrus hops. Flavor is fairly sweet with predominantly dark fruit notes, with lots of dark cherry and molasses with perhaps some honey wheat bread lingering in the background. The finish leads to notes of bitter citrus rind and pine hops, somewhat balancing the sweetness and adding some dryness to the beer. Body is quite soft... neither cloying nor thick. The dark fruit in this almost gives it a barley wine feel, which surprised me. Well crafted for sure, though maybe not the type of imperial stout I am inclined to enjoy most.

Bottled version, thanks to whoever brought this to the Strong Ale Fest. Aroma of dark cocoa, coffee/espresso, dark chocolate sweetness, toffee and just a touch of hop. Opaque black in color with a fine head. Flavor features more strong dark chocolate, espresso, smoky grains, brown sugar/toffee and molasses, overall quite sugary. Syrupy and thick on the palate, almost viscous, body is of course very full. Good stuff to be sure, but far from the best example of the style in my opinion as it is pretty one-sided. The residual sugars utterly bury whatever amount of hops got this to 85 IBUs.